M.I.Y.O Monday: What's One Food You Must Always Have At Home?

What self-respecting dessert fiend would be caught dead without chocolate?

Note: M.I.Y.O. Monday stands for Make It Your Own Monday, a question thrown out to DCF readers every Monday to jumpstart the week with lively interaction. I also welcome questions and suggestions for future MIYO Mondays. Email me.

I’m riffling through my refrigerator drawer and growing more desperate by the second, my craving growing by leaps and jumps. I must, MUST have some chocolate in here, I think. It’s impossible that I don’t have any.

But I really don’t. I unearth a bag of dried cherry-peanut mix, a rather dubious-looking tub of gochujang (Korean chili paste), and a wedge of Parmesan cheese. But no chocolate. And then I remember that I demolished the last of my chocolate last week, a bar of Green & Black’s Cherry Dark Chocolate. With a 60% cocoa content, it tasted only mildly mysterious with a decidedly sophisticated fruity note. The large bits of dried cherry were especially pleasing to nibble on.

Though I love dessert, I don’t consider myself a chocoholic (I think). There are just too many other flavors I love, lemon in particular. I don’t carry chocolate on my person or in my purse but it’s become a habit for me to have chocolate at home. In fact, I have a fridge on the third floor devoted to all things sweet, the majority of which is chocolate. I once had a friend who peeked into this particular refrigerator and was so awed at its abundance that she commented, “Lori, it’s obscene to have that much chocolate in one house.”

Of course all this chocolate in all these forms – bars, chips, slabs, and wedges – are for easy eating, for making hot chocolate, and for when I bake. And I’m no chocolate snob, either. I love my Valrhona and Amedei as much as I love my Royce’ and Hershey’s. And I like to share them too with people who come over.

Why do I insist on keeping chocolate in my home at all times? Ever heard the quote, “Hand over the chocolate and nobody gets hurt?” That’s me. I eat according to my moods and my craving for chocolate – when it rears its head – is monstrous. It won’t be ignored, willpower is weak in its deathly grip, and really now, chocolate is seduction made edible. Plus, I’m a female and eating chocolate is in my DNA.

I’ve got to run out now and load up on chocolate. How irresponsible of me to have let my supplies slip.

Dark chocolate (includes Swiss Miss, hehe). Nuts and dried fruit. Bread, jam & butter –I currently have a crush on the buns that are generously studded with fennel at the Mandarin Oriental (plan to learn to make my own, hehehe).

Long time lurker, first time to comment 🙂
Anything dairy! May it be ice cream, cheese, milk, carabao’s milk, canned versions of milk or what have you. Any! Does chocolate pass for dairy? 😛 I don’t think a day passes without me consuming some form of dairy 🙂

(and garlic! I love it so much my sinangag has dots of whole cloves of garlic. For me it’s an accompaniment to everything savory.)

chocolates and cheese. yikes! 🙂 i think it was diane ackerman in ‘a natural history of the senses’ who mentioned a study about people who love chocolates having also a high tendency to prefer cheeses 🙂

Nuts. Gotta have me some nuts. Even with my chocolates, and yes, even with cakes! I prefer for them to have nuts (almonds and walnuts are my favorites). There’s just something about having that ‘crunch’ sound echo from munching on something which satisfies your cravings at the same time. I guess I could say, I’m really nuts about nuts 😉

Liver spread and pan de sal. Or breads my Nanay would usually buy from a bakery near our village. Pan de coco, crinkles or cheese roll. Then we would prepare hot Milo to go with these breads for our afternoon merienda =)

>_< Korean Ramyun noodles. I have an unholy love for instant noodles. Back in the day LMPC was my Friday staple during college years (lucky me pancit canton). It was all I can afford after Thurs gimik night.

Wow, so far, most of the earlier comments will make up my weekly basic grocery list–oatmeal, cheese, garlic, Gardenia wheat bread, nuts,eggs, pasta. And,yeah, I too love, orange chocolate (Kitkat Orange, really?! Yeba!). Just add tomatoes and fresh basil and I’ll be pretty much covered for the week. Pure coincidence or do DCF readers tend to gravitate towards the same essentials/must-haves? =)

Chocolates are mandatory for me too. Chocolate bars and chocolate milk. I don’t consume lots nor do I eat them everyday, but when the craving kicks in, I’m in a foul mood if I don’t get my fix within the next five minutes.

For the chocolate drink, I go for Silk. For the bars, I prefer Meiji’s milk chocolate when in the mood for something smooth and creamy, Snickers Almond bar for when I feel like being nutty, Royce’ Nama especially the Champagne, Strawberry and Green Tea variants, Marks & Spencer’s After Dinner Mints and Chocolate-covered Cherries, and Anthon Berg’s chocolate liqueurs.

Now you have me craving, good thing I still have a box of the Royce’ Nama Macha (green tea). 🙂

Cheese – I can’t survive without it. I like Monterey jack but the local processed ones will do. As long as it’s cheese! 😉 As for my husband, he can’t live without Delimondo Chili and Garlic corned beef. He can live on that alone. 😉

Definitely nuts (cashews & almonds are the favorites) and yogurt. Although I don’t eat them on a daily basis anymore (for cavity reasons), I feel more comfortable and secure having dark chocolate around, just in case I need a quick serotonin boost. 🙂 I would love to keep ice cream in the freezer but given I already gained 50 pounds once due to an insatiable appetite for ice cream, I decided it wouldn’t be such a great idea. I’m human, I’m weak. Food is the biggest temptress of all! Let’s eat the ice cream outside the house where the calories don’t count! 🙂

anything for snacks (which is different from merienda, a differentiation that is sometimes hard to explain to americans) – crackers, nuts, yoghurt, dried fruit, bread, granola bar, banana.

chocolate comes in second. my husband’s sugar levels are bordering unhealthy levels so i try not to have any at home, because he just can’t resist. besides, even if we had chocolate at home, it’s gone in .5 seconds. i do hide some in my purse.

a friend once told me, “shared chocolate has zero calories. it’s the cosmic rule.” i apply it to dessert.

i wanted ice cream all the time but our fridge wont keep it frozen. i dont like eating melted ice cream so now i stick to yogurt. if i want it frozen i put in the fridge for at least half a day. also our staples are butter, eggs, cheese, bread and yakult. in the pantry cans of soup, or the knorr instand soup in every flavor available. cant live without soup.